In 1930, my greatgrandparents purchased a beautiful farm in Bradford County, PA, in a little hamlet called French Azilum. In the summer, we spent time there, resting, breathing in the fresh air, enjoying the wild flowers, the bright stars and planets on a clear moonlit night, and swimming in the Susquehanna River. If gas drilling is allowed to continue, Bradford County and all of Pennsylvania will be forever changed, ruined beyond repair.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Gas Drilling in PA: No Respect For the Law

This morning PennDOT removed a tracked drilling rig from the wooded area where it fell off a lowboy Friday in East Troy, PA. Two problems come immediately to mind:

1. The weight of the rig and the lowboy together were overweight. Law for weight IGNORED.

2. Diesel was drained from the rig after the accident. That sounds very nice, but did any of the diesel fuel spill during the accident or as the fuel was being drained? ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS!

This scenario has been repeated many, many times in PA and everywhere else gas drilling is happening. It is a significant danger to local people and the environment. However, there seems to be little worry by gas companies. I will give the benefit of the doubt that the gas industry does care about their workers. However, the fines for these accidents is laughable at best. The Daily Review reported that the fine here will be more than $12,000. A mere drop in the bucket.

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Are we the problem?

I am pessimistic about the human race because it is too ingenious for its own good. Our approach to nature is to beat it into submission. We would stand a better chance of survival if we accommodated ourselves to this planet and viewed it appreciatively instead of skeptically and dictatorially.

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Food for Thought

"And by reason of their boundless pride. . .there shall be nothing remaining on the earth or under the earth or in the waters that shall not be pursued and molested or destroyed."

Leonardo da Vinci

"We are the most dangerous species of life on the planet, and every other species, even the earth itself, has cause to fear our power to exterminate. But we are also the only species which, when it chooses to do so, will go to great effort to save what it might destroy."

- Wallace Stegner, renowned western writer and conservationist

"In every decision we must consider the impact on the seventh generation."